Denver Schools Defies Trump Trans Bathroom Ban: "We Will Protect All Of Our Students From This Hostile Admin"

The Trump administration is promising to withhold federal funding from the school district unless it implements a trans bathroom ban.

DPS // Public Domain

In recent months, the Trump administration has sought to strong-arm schools and universities into enacting policies that discriminate against transgender students. While some prestigious institutions—including Brown, Columbia, and Penn—have capitulated to federal threats in order to preserve their funding, others have pushed back. Denver Public Schools is the latest to reject the administration’s demands, with the superintendent declaring that the district “will protect all of their students from this hostile administration,” refusing to institute a transgender bathroom ban.

In a statement posted to Instagram, Dr. Alex Marrero, DPS Superintendent, speaks out, “I usually don’t make videos like these, but it’s absolutely necessary to send a very clear message to our entire community and in particular, our LGBTQ+ community. As you might have seen in the news, the federal government has decided to take a firm stance and have us roll back our support to the LGBTQ+ community, and of course, we’re not having it… We will continue to stand in solidarity, and as you engage this weekend and beyond, I just wanted to let you know that we got you, and everything is going to be ok.”

In an official statement sent to DPS students and a separate written statement accompanying his video message, Dr. Marrero states forcefully that the district will not comply, despite the funding threats. “We will fight. In the courts if we must. In the public square when necessary. Always in partnership with those who believe that every student deserves to show up to school ready to learn, free from fear. When students walk into our schools today, they will find what they should always find: open doors, open hearts, and classrooms focused on their success. We will not waiver. We will not back down. Because equity is not optional. It’s who we are,” says Dr. Marrero.

The statement follows a ruling from the U.S. Department of Education, led by Secretary Linda E. McMahon, which declared Denver Public Schools’ new gender-neutral, multi-stall restrooms—similar to facilities in major airports, European cities, and increasingly across the United States—in violation of Title IX. The department went further, claiming that Title IX actually mandates discrimination against transgender students in bathrooms, and issued an ultimatum: abolish gender-neutral restrooms, classify transgender students by their assigned sex at birth rather than their gender identity, and institute a bathroom ban for transgender students, or forfeit federal funding. Much of that funding supports programs such as reduced-price lunches for low-income children.

Denver Public Schools, in a public statement, rejected both the findings and the process followed by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. District leaders noted that OCR investigators never visited Denver Public Schools, conducted interviews, or independently verified claims—steps that are standard for legitimate investigations, but absent here. They also rejected the administration’s interpretation of Title IX, writing: “The interpretation put forward by OCR would undercut our equity commitments, contradict our mission, harm the very students we are entrusted to support and would have a devastating impact on the East High School and the broader LGBTQ+ community.”

The move comes after similar efforts to strip federal funding from several Virginia public schools were met with equally forceful rejection of the Trump administration’s demands. There, too, the administration ordered bathroom bans in five districts—including Loudoun County, Arlington, and Fairfax County—only to be rebuffed by school boards that cited binding precedent and pledged to protect their students.

“As a school board member, I cannot sit idly by while adults who should know better try to pit one group of students against another. Our responsibility is to ensure that every child — including those who are transgender or gender nonconforming — has an opportunity to achieve their full, unique, and limitless potential. We can and must meet the needs of all students without undermining the dignity or rights of any of them. That includes ensuring they have full and equal access to all the incredible academic and enrichment opportunities we offer. To uphold our shared values of equity, dignity, and respect for all students, we owe them nothing less,” read a post from Fairfax County School Board Member Karl Frisch in that particular ongoing fight.

The Virginia school districts have since sued the Trump administration to maintain access to federal funding.

Elite institutions like Brown, Columbia, and Penn—as well as multiple hospitals serving transgender youth—have already capitulated, signing away protections through bathroom and sports bans or cutting off medical care entirely. Denver Public Schools, by contrast, has drawn a line. With the Department of Education’s deadline looming next Monday, the district has made clear it will not fold quietly, signaling that some institutions still have the resolve to stand against a federal campaign of erasure.